Monthly Archives: July 2014

A brief biblical study in mankind’s free will

Posted on July 31, 2014 by | Comments Off on A brief biblical study in mankind’s free will

mens-bible-studyThis devotional actually began as a conversation I had with a former student of mine on Facebook. Being a third year college student, his major required him to take a course in psychology where the nature of free will was discussed.  In one of the lectures, he became bothered by the professor’s insistence that “free will” of the person does not exist in most religions, including Christianity.  Sadly, the professor began to expound on various doctrines held by some of the various denominations that supported his viewpoint.  What is even worse is that the professor would not allow any other discussion on the matter or allow any student to offer a counter argument. When the lecture ended, the professor had succeeded in assuring that his humanist-based argument against all religion stood strong.

In truth, God created humankind – Adam and Eve – to have free will and to be able to exercise it.  Within the first three chapters of Genesis, this free will is demonstrated through the story of the fall of man. Although God had commanded Adam and Eve not to eat of the forbidden fruit, there was no obstacle placed in their way. There was no angel standing guard, there was no force field, or even a canyon that surrounded the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Adam and Eve could freely walk under its shade, could enjoy the fragrance of its blossoms, but were told not to eat of it. The tree, and all that was in the garden were fully accessible to Adam and Eve and would stay that way until man willfully chose the path of disobedience. It is after the fruit is eaten and God’s judgment pronounced where it is recorded in the third chapter of Genesis: And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life (Genesis 3:22-24).

Job also questioned the free will of man.  As he was in the midst of his trials, he asked, Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in? (Job 3:23). Unlike Greek and Roman mythology that teaches that all mortals are at the whims of a pantheon of gods and goddesses whom change the fates of men and women to suit their own passions, our God is one that gave us the ability to make our own choices. We are not given some maze to run, but are told by the Lord, I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live (Deuteronomy 30:19). Our salvation all rests on our decision, for God’s invitation is extended to everyone regardless of their personal history, nationality, race, sex, or any other artificial construct society creates: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16). God doesn’t hedge anyone in to make the “right” decision – the most basic decision, to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal savior is yours to make. God wants us to love him out of our free will, not because we feel that we must.

There are plenty of scriptures that teach that God offers mankind a choice. Even within the writings of the prophets, God still  calls out to man, offering the best that He has that awaits all who will choose to accept and to love Him: Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price (Isaiah 55:1). In other words, God is saying that if we choose Him, the best awaits us without price to us. While we may enjoy some of those blessings here, the best is yet to come once we are in Heaven with Him. It is the same concept that Jesus taught, as recorded in the gospel of Matthew: Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light (Matthew 11:28-30). The beautiful thing about our free choice is that when we answer God’s call and accept His offer, He puts no other condition.  During His earthly ministry, Jesus taught: All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out (John 6:37). Notice the concept in both passages – “come to me” – is the only requirement.  It doesn’t say we must come or is it even a commandment to come. It is an invitation to come to the Lord much like one would get to join a family member or a friend for an evening out. Our salvation is dependent upon our free will. We have the choice to accept or reject; to choose death or choose life.

Within the early church, this was taught by the apostles;  Peter told all that would listen to him in those days, And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved (Acts 2:21). Again, contrary to the claims of the Calvinists (those who believe that only certain people are predestined for Heaven) and humanist alike, this contradicts the central belief of both philosophies. The phrase “whosoever shall call” indicated that only those who call upon the Lord will be saved. While God did make the first invitation that all people could be saved through faith in Him, only those who choose to accept the offer will actually be saved.  It is the free will of the person that determines their eternal relationship with God. The final proof of the role in free will in salvation can be found in the book of Revelation: And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely (Revelation 22:17). Again, the invitation to all people has been extended, again, the hand of God reaches out and says “Come.” It is up to the person to either accept or reject the invitation.

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Passing our faith on to the next generation

Posted on July 22, 2014 by | Comments Off on Passing our faith on to the next generation

bibleThis past Sunday, Pastor Alan Ramsey, my pastor, made a comment that is most unfortunately true.  During his Sunday morning sermon, he said that we are seeing the results of a generation that was not brought up in church.  But what he said next has really had me thinking – at least they know about God, but they will be bringing up a generation of children that will not know who God is. Although I was not brought up in a Christian home, I did have family that we visited from time to time that were strong in their faith. One in particular, “Grandma Edith” had a lasting impact on my life.  Although I would not come to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal Savior for about another decade, it was the consistent demonstration of her faith that made an impact on me.

Yesterday, while reading my personal devotional, I came across this passage: I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old: Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done. For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments:  And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God (Psalms 78:2-8).

This is  not the first place where parents, particularly fathers, are commanded to teach the younger generations the things of God.  Nine times in scripture God instructs parents to teach their children about the things of God.  The first occurrence is recorded in Leviticus: And that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the LORD hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses (Leviticus 10:11). God even promised his children through the writings of David, If thy children will keep my covenant and my testimony that I shall teach them, their children shall also sit upon thy throne for evermore (Psalms 132:12). Sometime between the exodus from Egypt and the death of David, the children were not taught about the miracles of God, about His commandments, or His love for them.  They were not taught about God’s deliverance from Pharaoh, the parting of the Red Sea, or manna provided from Heaven to feed their hunger.  I once heard someone say that if they had been around in those days, they would have made sure that their children and their grandchildren would always remember the mighty works of God.

I have never physically seen the Lord part a sea or river, nor have I seen manna on the ground each morning.  I was not there to see Jesus raise the dead, heal the sick, or teach in the Temple.  Through faith and the reading of His word, we know those stories and we proclaim them to be true, but with our children we read them as if they were stories written by Dr. Seuss. We trivialize the miracles that God has done in the past by making the characters seem more cartoonish and less human and then wonder why children dismiss the reality of the Lord’s grace and love the way they dismiss the worlds and characters created by Walt Disney.  Within the lives of the Christian, there are regular demonstrations of God’s love and grace that we can share with our children and others yet we choose to remain silent.  We choose to keep them to ourselves and not teach the younger generation of what we have seen the Lord do. I have often wondered why Christians do not want to share the things that God has done for them. Instead of hiding them, what if we began to keep a notebook to record those things we witness the hand of the Lord in as a memorial to be shared with the next generation?

I know that in my own life there are many things that the Lord has done that are not only worthy to be shared with others, especially my children.  They need to hear of the difference that the Lord made in my life and how he took my sins, my guilt, and shame and bore it on the cross so that He could fellowship with me. They need to hear of the difference he has made in the life of their grandfather, my dad, who is not the same man as he was thirty years ago.  They need to hear that in times of financial difficulty how He alone provided me food when there was no earthly explanation for what was happening.  They need to hear how He was able to heal my body from injuries that doctors told me would prevent me from ever walking again back in 1989.  I have seen God reach into the lives of the broken-hearted and downtrodden and lift them in love, forgive them, and heal their hearts and minds. God who delivered the children of Israel from the bonds of Egypt is the same God who delivers people from the bondage of sin today. I have seen friends delivered from the power of cigarettes, alcohol, and drugs and placed on a straight path.  In reality, many of you who are reading this can probably list as many things as I can where God’s hand can be seen directly intervening in our lives and the lives of those around us.

Since Sunday, I have added something new to my daily prayers; I’ve begun to ask the Lord to encourage and help me to teach my child still living at home about the goodness of His love and grace and to help me take advantage of every opportunity to share the same things with my children who are already outside the home.  As a parent, I do not want them to have the spiritual struggles that I have had.  I desire for them to have a closer walk with God earlier in their lives and to be able to see greater blessings from the Lord than I have.  I want to be able to rejoice in that day when we are all around God’s throne.  And most of all, I desire that their children and the children of that generation, should the lord tarry, to also know the love and grace of God.

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Making the tough decisions; does it matter…

Posted on July 14, 2014 by | Comments Off on Making the tough decisions; does it matter…

4-30-11-Article-Image-1Life is full of tough decisions; some of the decisions can be difficult to make as Christians.  Yesterday, in my Sunday school class, we began a new series that focuses on the central idea that what we surround ourselves with does matter.  While preparing the lesson, I used Psalms 101 as the starting point and had planned to simply focus on one key verse: I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me (Psalms 101:3). As I began to study that particular psalm in greater detail, I began to really think about the lesson that was unfolding before me.

David is one of the Bible’s most beloved Old Testament characters.  His life has been used as a teaching tool for both child and older Christian.  Many people focus on David as the shepherd boy while others focus on David as the King of Israel.  David was not a man without sin; he had an adulterous affair that resulted in a pregnancy.  To hide that pregnancy, he planned and executed the murder of her husband.  He often made hasty decisions that went contrary to the advice of what God had revealed to David through His prophets. Yet God still had this to say about David: For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father (I Kings 11:4). In spite of everything wrong and everything sinful David had done God – Himself – testified that David’s heart was perfect. The book of Acts also bears witness of God’s love for David: And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will (Acts 13:22).

As I studied Psalms 101 it became clear that I was looking at David’s personal desires.  This psalm was the description of the type of man who David wanted to be.  He had reached the point in his life that he was ready to make the tough decisions that we all find difficult to make.  His proclamation, I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me (Psalms 101:3) is the most often quoted verse out of this particular passage of scripture and the starting point for so many studies about how as Christians, we should be careful what we allow ourselves to be visually subjected to.  While it is a good place to start, by no means should it be all we are concerned with doing.  In this particular passage of scripture, not only does David say that he wants to be mindful of what he sets before his eyes, he also is concerned with the people he has around him, those that live in his house, and even the type of man he is when he is in the walls of his own home.  I remember a line from a sermon I heard years ago; the way we act when we think we are alone is the person we really are.  David’s heart’s desire was to be a man who walked with God and God found pleasing not only when others were watching but also when others could not see.

One of the verses that really stood out as I was preparing the Sunday school lesson was, A froward heart shall depart from me: I will not know a wicked person (Psalms 101:4). A froward person is someone who willfully and with all deliberateness, chooses to do what they know is wrong.  The Merriam Webster Dictionary further defines froward as meaning, “habitually disposed to disobedience and opposition.” Each of us know people – family, friends, and coworkers – that if we are honest with ourselves, we know fit that definition. I was not raised in church, I grew up in a mostly secular home and was not taught anything different from what I was exposed to in both the public school system and the Department of Defense Dependents Schools while my father was stationed overseas. At the heart of that educational system was humanism – the idea that there is no God, no supernatural force out there and that humanity was able to decide what was morally right and wrong.

Many of you were exposed to the same thing and like me, have a hard time calling anyone wicked or evil except for those such as Charles Manson and other notorious criminals.  We do not have the same world view of David, or even the Lord Jesus Christ, for that matter.  We do not like the idea of putting people into one of two categories; everyone can be scripturally divided into two peoples: the righteous and the wicked.  There is no “in-between.”  Even Jesus taught this very concept during his conversation with Nicodemus,  He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil (John 3:18-19).  For many of us, it is hard to accept that even some of the members of our own families would be considered as wicked or evil by the standards of the Bible.  Many of us have even gone to the extent of categorizing sins to make ourselves feel better.  The apostle James even dealt with the early Christians doing the same thing: For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all (James 2:10).

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